Past is Present
by Osaru Sensei
Summary: Returning from one of their classes Team STRQ, star pupils of Beacon Academy, find a small red velvet box that will take them on the adventure of a lifetime. (Freshman STRQ/RWBY time travel.)
1. The Velvet Box

**Quick notice: this is based on a comment in the "Whose Line Is It Saturday" thread for March 19, 2016 on /r/RWBY. I haven't quite decided if it's canon to the FYSX-verse yet, so I'll try to keep it ambiguous enough so you can decide for yourself if you want it to be canon or not. Language and some situations inside, be advised.**

* * *

20 Years Ago – Beacon Academy, Combat Class (Hall #3102)

* * *

Taiyang Xiao Long dodged yet another strike from his petite opponent, her chain-axes whipping about like a whirlwind of cold, hard metal. The chain with its lethal half-circle of metallic death swished past mere centimetres from his ear, embedding in the wall behind him. He quickly grabbed a hold of the now taut chain, and tugged his opponent closer to him, readying to lay her low with one swift punch to the gut.

Summer Rose, on the other hand, had other plans.

Instead of getting pummelled in what would certainly be the match-ending blow, she followed the tugging force towards her teammate-turned-opponent, slightly altering her trajectory at the very last second so she could grab onto his arm with her arms and legs, then threw herself towards the ground in a somersaulting motion, throwing Tai face first into the floor while she just landed on her back, still straddling his arm.

"Match is decided, Taiyang Xiao Long's Aura level is red!" came the Combat Instructor's verdict. Summer looked up at the screens to confirm her victory. Tai's levels were indeed in the red zone, while hers was barely halfway through yellow. She holstered her twin chain-axes and helped her battered and groaning teammate up from the floor.

"Dammit Sum, where did you gain enough strength to pull me to the floor that easily? I'm like, twice your weight."

"Aww shucks Tai, gimme some credit. You gave me more than enough momentum when you pulled me in so I could utilize basic centrifugal force around your x axis to twist you down towards the floor" Tai just blinked at his team leader.

"Could you explain that in a language I can understand?"

"… I used your own strength against you." Summer chuckled at her less-than-book smart teammate.

"Ah." Tai then turned to their Combat Instructor, Mrs. Aoyama. "Lay it on me teach, what'd I mess up?"

"Same as always, mister Xiao Long – you underestimated your opponent." Mrs. Aoyama then turned to the rest of the attending class.

"That will be all for today, class is dismissed." Summer and Taiyang walked up the bleachers to gather their materiel and rejoin their two teammates in Team STRQ, the sullen Raven Branwen and her younger (by three minutes!) brother, the juice box-addicted Qrow Branwen.

"Must be hard for you to get your ass kicked by Sum all the time Tai…" Qrow ribbed his teammate.

"Stuff it Qrow, or so help me Oum I will kick your ass so hard you'll feel your tail feathers at the back of your beak."

"Ooh, _scary_ …" Qrow retorted as he loudly slurped down the last juice of his current box.

"You can both stuff it, for all I care. Now come on, let's get back to the dorms." Raven grumbled as she brushed past the two boys.

"Ooh, Tai's so lame with comebacks he's gotta have his _girlfriend_ help him out."

Raven merely glared angrily at her twin brother as she stomped out of the room.

"Come on Qrow, did you really have to rile her up like that?" Summer gave him a disappointed look.

"Sum, it's called 'sibling love'. Tiffs like these are normal." as Qrow passed the dustbin, he threw the empty juice box from overhead. "All right, three points for me!"

* * *

A few minutes later, they were standing outside their dorm room. Tai and Raven were a united front against Qrow.

"You know full well there's nothing between us other than friendsh-"

Raven gave Tai a cold look, then turned back to her task of pushing her brother against the wall.

"… okay, _mutual tolerance_ … between Raven and me, Qrow…"

"All right, all right, I got the message the first time… chill, man. Sis, tug any harder you'll rip my uniform and _I'm telling mom_." Raven dropped him to the floor in disgust.

"Still hiding behind mom… my brother is a _coward_." She hissed as she moved past Qrow and opened their dorm room door. Tai dropped on his bed with a loud sigh. Raven walked into the bathroom to do maintenance on her gear. Qrow made a beeline to the fridge for a fresh juice box. Summer walked up to the desk beside the windows overlooking the evening outside. Then she noticed a small, red velvet box with a note on it, placed in the centre of the desk.

"Hey guys, is this any of yours?"

"Not mine."

"Nope. Never seen it." Summer turned towards the bathroom door.

"Raven? The little red box on the desk, is that yours?"

"If it was, I'd never leave it out in the open where my _idiot brother_ could find it!" Raven shouted angrily.

"Love ya too, sis!" Qrow cheerily answered.

Summer unfurled the note and read.

TRAVELLING IS EXHAUSTING, OR SO I'VE READ;

BE CAREFUL ON YOUR JOURNEYS, OR YOU'LL END UP DEAD.

Qrow chuckled when Summer finished.

"Who the heck wrote that drivel? That doesn't even sound remotely like-… look out!" Suddenly a force had begun pulling Summer down into the little velvet box. Tai, who was the closest, immediately jumped into action and grabbed Summer across her midsection, but he soon too began to be pulled into the box. Qrow leaped up and started pulling Tai and Summer away from the box, to no avail.

"DAMMIT RAVEN, GET IN HERE! I NEED SOME DUST-DAMNED HELP HERE!"

Despite her dislike of her younger brother, Raven ran out of the bathroom and pulled at Qrow's legs with all her might, but even she could not resist the pull of the box, and soon they had all been swallowed up into the little artefact.

* * *

Summer wanted to scream, but her mouth was everywhere and nowhere all at once, much like the rest of her body, unseen forces pushing and pulling at every atom of her being. After what felt like a lifetime, the otherworldly feeling gave way to consciousness. She was falling towards a wooden floor. Instinctively she tucked and rolled, unsheathing her chain-axes in one fluid movement as her teammates came crashing in behind her, no doubt having experienced the same sensations. She suddenly realized they weren't alone in the room however. A girl with lilac eyes and flowing golden hair, standing ready for combat, gauntlet-clad arms held up to protect her chin. A girl with ice blue eyes and white hair in a neat side-ponytail, rapier pointed at the intruders in a duelist stance. A girl with amber eyes, flowing jet-black hair with a bow, crouched on her bed, pistol aimed.

Front and centre however, was a petit redhead in a flowing red cloak, scythe drawn and ready. Her silver eyes met Summer's, and soon started welling.

"… Mom?" Ruby Rose sobbed, breaking the silence of the scene.

* * *

 **AN: It's awesome how I could do a _Love Hina!_ shout out and still adhere to the colour rule with naming.**

 **Qrow's right, I'm not a very good poet xD He's so much fun to write.**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**

 **EDIT: Spelling.**


	2. Convergence

**Okay, so it turns out a lot of people loved the first chapter. Guess this means I'll continue writing then. :D**

* * *

20 Seconds Ago – Beacon Academy, Dormitories West Wing (Room #202)

* * *

"… What did you just call me?" Summer stared vacantly at the young girl sobbing in front of her.

"MOM!" Ruby let Crescent Rose go, throwing herself into the other girl's arms. "Mom… I've missed you so much" she managed to say in-between sobs. Summer looked down at the discarded weapon, an ominous feeling in her gut. _No. No no no no._

"Nice scythe ya got there, girlie." Suddenly team RWBY realised there was three other people in their room. "It'd be a shame if something broke when you dropped it like that. I should know." Ruby looked up from her mother's shoulder to meet the gaze of whom had addressed her.

"… Uncle Qrow? What're you doing here?"

"… Don't call me 'uncle', kid – I'm only 17. And how do you even know my name? 's far as I know, we've never met before."

"But of course I know your name, silly – it's kinda hard to forget the name of the uncle who taught you to fight after all."

Suddenly something clicked for Summer.

"Girls… would you mind telling us what date it is?"

"Third cycle, fourteenth, year 2400" Blake Belladonna catches onto Summer's train of thought.

"20… 20 years…" Summer staggers and grasps at the table to not fall over in shock.

"Sum, mind filling us in here?" asks Taiyang. Suddenly Yang rises to her feet.

"Wait… if you're Summer Rose… and you're Qrow Branwen…" lilac eyes look over the four strangers until they meet the gaze of the other woman in the newcomer's group. Then they turn dark crimson. Yang makes an attempt to rush Raven, but Blake and Weiss catch her mid-lunge, leaving Yang to flail hopelessly as she's held back by her teammates.

"LET ME _GO!_ SHE NEEDS TO FEEL ALL THE PAIN SHE'S LEFT ME AND DAD!"

"Yang Xiao Long! You calm down this instant!" Blake tells her firmly. "That woman is _not_ your mother! At least not yet. Somehow, the team of yours and Ruby's parents have been transported twenty years into the future – _our present_." Now it's Taiyang's turn to look incredulous.

"Wait… did that girl just call the other girl 'Xiao Long'?"

"… Really Tai? You get flung twenty years into the future and all you can think of is if you knocked somebody up along the way?"

"Actually, if I remember it correctly, Ruby and Yang are only half-sisters." Weiss Schnee realised she had kicked the proverbial rapier wasps' nest as soon as she said it.

"… Two women? Oh _Oum_." Qrow chuckles at Tai's obvious turmoil, then something dawns on him.

"Wait… li'l redhead over there, 'Ruby' was it?" Qrow walked up to Summer and Ruby, still hugging, Summer gently rocking the still sobbing girl. "She called Sum 'mom', so that'd be a Tai-Summer fling." He took a sip from his juice box as he carried on. "Blonde Ball of Anger over there is Ruby's half-sister, yet she's kept Tai's surname. Ruby calls me 'uncle Qrow', which, admittedly may just be an honorary title, but…" He comes to a stop before his twin sister, who gives him a downright _murderous_ look.

"Don't. Say. Another. word."

"So… just 'mutual tolerance' between you and Tai huh?" Qrow chuckled and turned around to face the others. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my oh-so-humble pleasure to introduce to you my beloved twin sister… Raven Branwen."

* * *

"I still can't believe I'm the father of two, Qrow. I'm just 17…" Qrow gives Tai an annoyed look as he takes a fresh sip from his box.

"Relax man, you're not there yet. Your old, future/present self is probably still out on adventures with the rest of us. Nothing short of Izhar himself can kill team STRQ."

The two boys of Team STRQ had requested a bit of solitude after the big discoveries, so they had gone up to the rooftop directly above West wing.

"This is all too _confusing_."

"I hear ya, Tai." He reached out and put a hand on Tai's shoulder.

"I hear ya."

* * *

When they returned to the dorm, things had calmed down considerably. Mother and daughter Rose had moved up from the floor to sit on one of the beds, Summer having put an arm around Ruby, who had stopped sobbing for the most part. Blake and Weiss had eventually let go of Yang, who were straining to not assault the woman in front of her.

"Be that as it may Yang but, as your teammate pointed out earlier, I am not yet that woman. You cannot possibly hold me responsible for something I have yet to do."

"You ran from dad. You ran from _me_."

"I did not."

"You _did_." Yang rose to her feet, eyes flaring crimson.

" _ENOUGH!_ " Raven rose to meet the gaze of the blonde brawler. "You want me to be your mother so bad?! _Fine_. Firstly, no daughter of mine speaks to me in that tone. Apologize." Raven spat, her hand firmly on the hilt of Umbrae Corvinus – a convincing threat, had she not been half a head shorter than her future daughter. Yang just stared as her eyes faded back to lilac. Then she did the most unexpected thing.

She laughed.

"Well aren't you just adorable! I kinda see where I get the temper from now…" She stepped forwards and hugged Raven, who tried her best to wriggle loose to no avail. Raven smiled weakly back at Yang.

"You're just as annoying as Tai too, you know that?"

"What can I say, I was a cooperative effort after all." Qrow, who had been listening in, guffawed as he got juice up his nose. Raven glared back at him.

"Stuff it, Qrow."

* * *

A few minutes later, everyone had settled down. Blake was trying to help Tai understand that he actually wasn't dreaming. Weiss sat by Yang and Raven, ready to intervene if things heated up again. Qrow was sitting down with Crescent Rose, admiring the work he had apparently been a big part in. Ruby had long since stopped sobbing, but she was still very low on spirit.

"It sure seems like you've had a lot more happen in your school life than I did back then… is Mrs. Aoyama still Combat Instructor?" Summer asked.

" _Mr._ Aoyama is our CI. He's okay, but strict."

"As a teacher _should_ be, young lady."

"Oh please, 'mom' – I'm a year older than you now." Ruby giggled.

"Speaking of moms, where am I these days? You guys mentioned Tai still lives on Patch and Qrow is out on missions and Raven is god-knows-where, but what of me?" Ruby paled and frowned.

"Mo-… Summer, can I show you something?"

* * *

After having retrieved Crescent Rose from Qrow and told everyone they were going on a short trip together, Ruby and Summer had made it to the airship terminals and flown out to a remote forest near the ocean. Summer could hear the waves crashing against the cliffsides in the distance. She then looked at Ruby.

"How far?"

"About 200 metres that way." Ruby pointed to the east. As they got to the cliffs, Summer had a sinking feeling as she saw a single, marble epitaph at the very edge of the steep cliff.

SUMMER ROSE

Thus Kindly I Scatter.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed and choppy, I had a lot of scenes I wanted to fit in. What a nerve-wrecking way to end it on though!**

 **Umbrae Corvinus is a reference to the final stanza in my favourite poem by Edgar Allen Poe, _The Raven_.**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	3. Memento Mori

**Open letter to the little [CENSORED] that wrote me a review under the name "The Joining" – I am not used to writing longer stories. English is not my first language. The nods to _Remnant's Reclaimer_ and _A Raven In Summers Embrace_ (two of my fav fics out there, tbh) were a little something called a _homage_ , you might want to look that one up in a dictionary. Lastly – If you're so chicken to only say the things you did behind the anonymity of a guest review, you might want to consider the fact that nobody's forcing you to read this story. Have a nice life, and don't bother coming to read my works ever again. **

* * *

Summer Rose sunk to her knees, face to face with her own mortality.

She could sense the presence of her future daughter walking up to her, reassuringly putting a hand on her shoulder. She tried shutting her eyes, but the haunting words on the gravestone – _her_ gravestone – was like etched on the insides of her eyelids. Tears started to well in the corners of her eyes.

"How… how did I die?" she said to the gravestone.

"We don't know." Ruby answered, tears silently trailing down her cheeks.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'YOU DON'T KNOW'?!" Summer rose to her feet as she spun around to face the older girl. Ruby recoiled a bit at the sudden shouting, but moved in to hug the distraught girl in front of her.

"You went on a mission one day and just… never returned." Ruby was hugging the sobbing Summer, tracing tiny circles on her back with her hands when she suddenly felt as if someone, or some _thing_ was watching them.

"Get ready, mom… I don't think we're alone."

* * *

"Sum's… dead?" Taiyang slumped into a chair.

"I'm sorry, dad…" Yang sat down beside him and put a hand on his knee. Raven hadn't said much during her daughter's tale, but her eyes spoke _volumes_ of her thoughts. Whomever had dared to hurt her teammate, leader, and above all _friend_ … they would suffer dearly. _I'm starting to understand what mission I ran away from my family for…_

"We can't begin to understand what's going through your minds right n-" Weiss began, when she was suddenly cut off by Qrow, his juice box uncharacteristically set aside on the table.

" _Damn right you don't!_ You're not the ones having been sent 20 years into the _fucking future_ to meet up with your damn nieces and their team!" Yang shot him a crimson-eyed glare, perfectly mirrored by her younger mother. The rest of the group just stared at the furious teenager, who up until now had been the most relaxed about the whole ordeal.

"You don't know a fucking thing about learning that your team leader, your _friend_ , will be dead within the next 20 years! Your _sister_ running off on some crazy crusade for Oum knows _what_ damn reason!" Suddenly there was two heavy hands on Qrow's shoulders, and two angry, crimson eyes meeting his.

" _Excuse me?_ We don't _know_ the pain of _loss_? Penny, why don't you come out and say hello to my dear uncle."

* * *

Summer unsheathed her chain-axes as she saw the beowolves' red eyes gleam in the dark shadows of the treeline. She swung them around in slow, anticipatory circles around herself as Ruby unsheathed Crescent Rose beside her. As the first beowolf lunged towards Summer, she gave it a low double left uppercut with both blades, sending the corpse flying backwards into the oncoming pack. The two girls worked their way through the first wave, hacking away at their assailants in a maelstrom of blades. Summer's blades swung around her like a protective dome of razor-sharp pain, hacking anything that dared to get close to bits. She glanced over to where Ruby was, only to see her get cornered by two particularly large beowolf specimen. She was about to shout a warning, when the older girl disappeared in a shower of rose petals. Milliseconds later the two beowolves heads exploded downwards as two loud cracks echoed through the glade. As soon as Ruby landed from her escape jump, she speeded inside her future mother's protective blade swings.

"Impressive stunt. I'm guessing your semblance is speed." Summer glanced backwards at Ruby.

"Pretty much, yeah. Works really well with Crescent Rose too." Ruby hefted the rifle in her hands and shot two more beowolves.

"… You named your weapon like a family member? Please don't tell me my disappearance had anything to do with that." Summer grimaced as she decapitated two beowolves with one blade while simultaneously pulling a third to the ground with the chain of the other axe.

"No, I just had a… _difficult_ … time connecting with other people when I was younger. Weapons were simpler."

"Ah, good to hear… I think?"

Ruby aimed for the next beowolf and pulled the trigger. Click.

"… Shit."

* * *

"Sal- _you_ -tations friends! My name is P.E.N.N.Y.!"

The hologram floated over Yang's right forearm in front of Qrow's surprised face.

"I lost my right arm in defence of this school and my teammate. Blake got stabbed in the stomach, and one of our close friends got _fucking shot by two arrows_ that nearly got her killed had Ruby not intervened. Don't talk to us like we don't know anything." Yang practically hissed at Qrow, who had turned quite pale as the hologram of Penny met his gaze.

"Relax, Yang. They've been under a lot of stress in a short amount of time. Snapping is understandable." _Damn it, Blake. You always say just the right things to calm me down…_

Yang let go of Qrow with a disapproving look.

"Ugh, fine."

* * *

The beowolf lunged just as Ruby's fresh magazine slammed home. She hoisted Crescent Rose above her head, blowing the still flailing beast clear of the muzzle with a thundering shot. As the remains evaporated into nothing, Summer obliterated its two replacements with quick swipes by her chain-axes.

"There's only a few of them left! We've got this!"

"Don't get cocky Summer, nothing good comes from that." Ruby replied as she shifted Crescent Rose back to its scythe mode. And that's when it appeared. A massive alpha-beowolf, with shoulders easily broader than Ruby and Summer combined. On its massive forepaws were claws that would make any dagger smith jealous. As it growled it bared an impressive set of teeth, red eyes firmly set on the two girls in front of it. Prey.

As it ran towards its adversaries, Summer leapt into action, only to be slapped aside like an impertinent child. Ruby dealt it several slashes with Crescent Rose, only to have it ripped from her hands and thrown aside. The alpha beowolf pinned her to the ground, raising claws to strike at the defenceless girl.

The last Ruby remembered seeing before the world turned into darkness and pain was five claws racing towards her blurring vision.

* * *

 **AN: Okay, yeah. This'll be canon to FYSX-verse. It's official.**

 **Penny kept her holographic nose out of the discussion because she didn't want to feel intrusive.**

 **Summer-Ruby-Beowolves fight is the result of thinking "what if we did the Red trailer, but with _two_ girls?"**

 **I'm sorry for the constant cliffhanger endings, it's easier to finish up oneshots. xD**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	4. Of Meetings and Encounters

**You wanted a new chapter for my most popular fic? Well, okay then…**

* * *

When Ruby came to, the world was a blurred, brown mess. Or at least the half of it she could see. In fact, the entire left side of her field of vision was black.

She moaned in discomfort as her vision slowly returned to her. The 'blurry brown mess' turned out to be a wooden ceiling.

"Guys, she's awake!" Ruby tilted her head to the right just in time to see Yang practically flying at her to hug her little sister. As Ruby weakly struggled to get free from her sister's crushing hug of relief, another voice spoke up in a rather irritated and concerned voice.

"Get off her, you oaf! She's been through a lot!" Weiss leaned in and pried the offending party off Ruby.

"… Guys? Where am I? What happened? And why can't I see with my left eye?" Ruby strained to talk. The room fell silent for a painful moment, then Weiss handed her a mirror. When she held it up to see her face, she was met with the visage of a large, black eyepatch with her customary rose emblem on the part covering her eye. But where her original emblem was a vibrant crimson, parts of this rose had been dyed white.

"We thought you'd like something to remember me by, so we changed the emblem a bit. Hope you don't mind." Ruby spun her head around to the left to look at whom had spoken. Summer.

"As to _where_ – one of Beacon's infirmaries. West wing, fourth floor, to be exact." She leaned in and grasped her future daughter's hand, a pained expression on her face.

"And as to _how_ …"

* * *

 _Summer leapt at her foe, but the massive alpha-beowolf intercepted her in midair and sent her sprawling across the meadow. She looked up towards Ruby, who was engaging the new adversary. Suddenly the alpha struck at the girl and yanked Crescent Rose from his opponent's hands. Summer could only gape in horror as Ruby was pinned to the ground and viciously mauled by the large beast. That was when something inside Summer snapped._

 _"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER, YOU FILTHY PIECE OF UNPROCESSED LUGGAGE!" She jumped to her feet, and with two mighty swings of her chain-axes, the beast fell to the ground dead. Ruby moaned weakly, her face covered in her own blood. Good. At least she's still alive._

 _Summer located Ruby's scroll to call for help, which wasn't easy when her vision was blurred by the pooling of tears. She found Yang's contact info, and pressed 'dial'._

 _"Heya Rubes, how'd it go with Summer and… you know…" She pauses when she hears the sound of sobbing on the other end._

 _"… Rubes?" Now Summer can't hold the tears back anymore._

 _"I… it's… Yang. I am so sorry, Yang. I can't… there's so much blood. I can't-"_

 _"Summer? Calm down, tell me exactly what's happened? Tell. Me. Everything."_

 _Summer held the Scroll between her shoulder and ear and explained the events that led up to this predicament as she began to clean off the blood from Ruby's face. Her left eye – or what remained of it anyways, had turned a sickly yellowish-green nuance. Summer retrieved some cotton and gauze from the field kit they had brought along 'just in case', and started to cover Ruby's wound._

 _"You'll have an airship en route in a few minutes. When they arrive, do as they tell you to."_

 _"Thanks for the help, Yang." Yang chuckled on the other end._

 _"We're just looking out for our family, Sum."_

* * *

Ruby was on the verge of tears. Before she could start showering Summer with praise however, she felt a soft touch on her shoulder. When she looked up, amber eyes met her gaze.

"You should take it easy for now, you lost a lot of blood." Blake had somehow, yet again, managed to hide in plain sight. Ruby didn't care much for the reclusive girl's antics though, as long as she was there to support her team leader. Ruby suddenly felt the need to see what her eye looked like under the eyepatch, so she brought up the mirror to her face and gently lifted the eyepatch out of the way.

 _… Yeah, nope. Not going to look at that ever again._

"So… where's the rest of STRQ, mom?"

"Still back in the dorm." Summer reclined in the chair beside Ruby's bed.

"We're trying to keep it low-profile after all."

And that was the exact moment the door to the infirmary exploded off its hinges.

"WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE'S MY LITTLE GIRL?!" Taiyang Xiao Long bellowed loud enough for Ruby to have to cover her ears.

"Right… right over here dad." Taiyang strode over to his daughter and hugged her tight.

Then he noticed the woman sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed.

"Hello Tai." Summer smiled at the husband of her future.

"Long time no see." Taiyang got a glassy look in his eyes, then fell backwards on the floor. Summer craned her neck over the bed to see what happened.

"Is he…?" Yang kneeled down and waved a hand in front of her father's face.

"Yep. Out cold."

"Well, _that_ was a thing."

"It was indeed." Everybody in the room spun around to look at the one who had just made his presence known. The stranger took a sip from his coffee mug as he stepped through the now doorless frame and into the light of the infirmary.

"Now if you don't mind, I would like to hear _your_ side of this story…"

Professor Ozpin had arrived.

* * *

 **AN: A smidge shorter chapter than usual this time around, hope you all don't mind the missing 200-or-so words.**

 **I could need some help visualising the Red/White rose emblem, so feel free to contact me on the /r/RWBY subreddit.**

 **"Unprocessed luggage" – the mind goes strange places when you're mad with grief and anger. (Apparently you start channelling Molly Weasley as well.)**

 **/u/HystericalCHijinks –please don't kill me for "borrowing" one of my favourite lines/moments of _Remnant's Reclaimer_.**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	5. The Schoolgirl, The Spy and the Mirror

**Okay, confession time.**

 **I have literally no idea where this story is heading. I haven't got a clue who sent STRQ into the future-present. I don't even know if there's a "big bad" out there involved somehow. I don't know for how many chapters more I can keep BS-ing up a coherent plot. All I know is that this fic has somehow become my most popular work, despite being a total "chapter-by-chapter" story.**

* * *

"Now imagine my surprise when I get notified of four student ID's that hasn't been active for decades suddenly popping up on my screen…" Ozpin smiled softly as he regarded each member of the gathered Team STRQ in his office. Summer's hand shot in the air.

"Yes, Miss Rose - I've known of your team's presence since you first materialized in team RWBY's dormitory." Summer lowered her hand again. Ozpin leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of his face.

"Now what I _don't_ know, is how you got here. I have checked your ID's, which are the genuine article, so you're not clones. Alternate dimension? One possibility. Another…" he looks away, deep in thought for a moment.

"Actually it was tim-" Qrow never finishes as Raven gives him a swift smack to the back of his head. She then realises she did this in full view of the headmaster and gains a most unusual expression of abject horror on her face as she mentally calculates just how much trouble she's in.

"… Time travel." Ozpin finishes Qrow's sentence, ignoring Raven's infraction.

"Very well. Do you happen to know an approximate timeframe? Yes, Miss Rose?"

"20 years, professor. Give or take a few days." Summer answers dutifully as she once again lowers her hand. Without missing a beat, Professor Ozpin pulls out a drawer in his desk, retrieves paper and pen, writes something down and hands the folded-up note to Qrow.

"Mr. Branwen. If and _when_ you and your team return to your own time, please make sure to deliver this note _personally_ to me. Keep it on you at all times until then." Ozpin rose to his feet.

"I would suggest you keep laying low for the moment, lest we accidentally unravel time itself by inducing paradoxes." He followed them to the door and saw them off.

"We will most likely meet again soon. Farewell for now." When he once again was alone in his office, he pulled out another note from the drawer, identical to the one he had just written.

HE WILL SPY FOR YOU, OZPIN.

It all made sense now.

* * *

When team STRQ returned to dormitory room 202, they were met by team RWBY and an unknown team of two boys and two girls. One of the girls noticed the new arrivals and dashed over to greet them.

"OH! OH! YANG! Is this your mother? She looks _just like you_ so I'm just gonna assume it is so! Hello Raven, I'm Nora Valkyrie and we are going to have _so_ much fun together!"

Raven just stared blankly at the girl shouting in her face.

"Uhh… nice to meet you too?" Yang stepped up and gently guided Nora back to her team.

"… _Riight_. I suppose introductions are in order. Team STRQ, meet our friends in team JNPR: Jaune Arc, the team leader…"

"Hey guys. Nice to meet you." A tall, lanky, blonde boy waved a hello.

"… Nora Valkyrie, the pancake enthusiast…"

"H'llo!" Nora flailed enthusiastically, a pancake hanging halfway out her mouth. _Where'd she get that, anyways…?_

"… Pyrrha Nikos, famous athlete and Jaune's official girlfriend…"

"Hello! Pleasure to be acquainted!" the other girl of team JNPR cheerily introduced herself.

"… And lastly, Lie Ren, Nora's BFF and handler." The black-haired boy bowed politely.

"So much for laying low…" Summer sighed.

* * *

For a while, all Taiyang saw was stars. Stars and darkness. He groaned as he blinked his eyes back in working order.

"You okay, dad?" a voice above him asked as he rose to a sitting position on the floor.

"Ugh… Ruby? Just… just give your old man a minute, will you?"

"As long as you need, dad." Tai stood up, hobbled over to the chair on the right side of Ruby's bed and sat down.

"Must've hit my head pretty hard on my way down. Could've sworn I saw Summer sitting in that chair a moment ago." Ruby chuckled nervously.

"Ah-heh… You did see her actually. But you've been out cold for the past 20 minutes, so technically that 'moment' has passed." Taiyang frowned.

"You and I both know your mother died years ago. It couldn't have been her."

"Would you believe… time travel?"

"Time travel's not real, Ruby. That's fairy tales."

"Oh? Explain the 're-election' protocol then. 'Clipped wings, further flight' and all that."

"… Okay, fine. So we assume you're right – why _now_? Why Summer?" Another nervous half choke, half chuckle from Ruby.

"Actually, she didn't come alone…"

* * *

Taiyang walked with a hurried pace towards his daughters' dorm room – in an odd twist of fate mere metres away from team STRQ's old room – leaving Ruby in his wake, desperately trying to keep up with her father on her crutches. Taiyang doesn't hesitate once he arrives at his destination as he pulls the door open and strides into room 202. When Ruby had reached the door, Taiyang had already strolled up to the three teams inside with a serious expression on his face. He quickly locates his younger counterpart and focus his gaze upon him.

"All right. Let's chat."

* * *

 **AN: Holy hell, Ozpin knows the Gendo pose.**

 **Dammit Sum, you're not in scho-… well, I guess you are, technically.**

 **"Don't create any paradoxes, okay?" – Immediately partakes in a predestination paradox.**

 **I wanted to toss in an allusion to the time travel protocol established by _Remnant's Reclaimer_. Turns out it happened a few paragraphs later than intended. xD**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	6. Stargazer

**Man, I still can't believe the hype this story has gotten. Probably gets the "good genes" from _Remnant's Reclaimer_. :P**

 **Sorry if this chapter is a bit short (relatively), I'm still not quite free from my Writer's Block.**

* * *

As Ruby finally got to the door of room 202, she was met by JNPR on their way out in a hurry. Jaune gave her a sheepish look as he walked past.

"Hey Ruby, good to see you on your feet… ah… eh... Well, we should probably get back to ours. Bye Ruby." Pyrrha gave ruby a consoling hand on her shoulder as she passed with a smile. Ren nodded approvingly to Ruby while Nora waved enthusiastically.

And just as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone.

As Ruby stepped over the threshold, she could hear voices from inside the dorm room.

"Summer… I had forgotten how beautiful you were…"

"What the Dust Tai? Laying on it a bit thick, aren't ya?"

"Stuff it Qrow, I'm not doing anything! Old me is the one being a pervert!"

When Ruby came around the corner into the main room, she was met with chaos.

Taiyang and Summer were standing in the middle of the room, Taiyang embracing Summer tightly, practically lifting the diminutive 17-year-old off the floor. Summer was trying to hide a massive blush inside the hood of her cape in a way not too dissimilar from her future daughter. Yang stood off to the side, turned away from the scene, leaning on the wall looking like she was about to puke. Blake and Raven had a difficult time looking away from Taiyang's toned arms, both having a slight flush to their face. Tai was furiously trying to explain to Qrow that it's not his fault he and Summer had hooked up in the future.

What made Ruby chuckle however, was Weiss.

Cooping up in a corner on her bed, Weiss desperately trying to ignore what was going on in the room beyond her study book she was holding up in front of her face. Ruby hobbled over to the bed and sat down in front of Weiss's pulled-up legs. Leaning over, she pulled down the top of the book to look Weiss in the eyes.

"Hey."

"Your family is _weird_ , please make them stop." Ruby kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Anything for you, Weiss." She turned to the rest of the room's occupants and put on her best "authoritative team leader" expression.

"Guys, Weiss is trying to study in peace here, could you take it down a notch or two?" Taiyang stared at his youngest daughter disbelievingly and absentmindedly let go of Summer.

"Thank you." Ruby smiled at her accomplishment.

* * *

After having received fresh Beacon uniforms from Professor Ozpin ("less conspicuous than having to walk around campus in combat dress all the time" he had called it.), the young team STRQ had been given temporary lodging in the dorm room two doors to the right of JNPR – placing the old STRQ dorm room of twenty years ago in-between the two teams.

"I'm guessing he assigned us this room intentionally, just for kicks."

"Really Qrow? It was rather obviously done on purpose. Who can tell with him, anyways."

"Oh stuff it, Tai. Leave the sarcasm to the Branwen siblings. It's an art form for us." Raven rose from her seat by the table and made her way towards the door.

"I'm going up to the roof for a bit of fresh air. There's too much stupid in here – no offense, Sum." Summer smirked.

"None taken. I'll babysit these two while you rest up." As Raven passed the two boys lying prone on the floor playing cards, she dealt a playful kick to Qrow's side as she stepped over him. His response was a melodramatic grunt of pain and a jibe.

A few minutes later, she was on the roof, gazing up at the constellations of stars filling the night sky. She traced her finger over her namesake _The Raven_ guarding the eastern quadrant, from beak to tail, then from the right wingtip pointing north to the left pointing south. She stood in silence for a while, just looking at the sky, until a noise behind her pried her away from her thoughts.

"We never really _did_ get why Tai was so obsessed with the stars…" Raven spun around and down into a combat stance, clutching at her sword, only for her hands to grasp at the empty air. _Right, I'm in my school uniform._

"We did fill out the school uniform in all the right places though…" Meeting Raven's gaze was a woman clad in an all-too-familiar red armour, dust katana slung lazily on her hip. A moment passed.

"Hello Raven." The two women said simultaneously.

* * *

 **AN: Yay, non-platonic WhiteRose!**

 **Finally we're getting some Present!Raven… been waiting for this moment. We can wait a little longer for that though.**

 **Constellation name "borrowed" from the fic _Written in the Stars_ by HeiszKetchup. (yes, I'm an astronomy nerdette.)**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	7. Birds of a Feather

**Let's see how much fresh content I can drop this week, yes?**

* * *

When Raven returned to the dorm 20 minutes later, Tai and Qrow had moved their next round of card games to the table so Summer could join. Without saying a word, the older Branwen sibling walked up to the corner of the table between Tai and Qrow and pulled them both into a hug. She then wandered off towards her bed and laid herself down, facing away from her teammates. Qrow eyed his sister suspiciously.

"…Who are you and what did you do to my sister?" Raven merely lifted her left elbow up from her side and flipped him off. Summer rose to her feet and took a few steps towards the bed.

"Are you okay Raven? Did something happen on the roof?" As Raven turned her head to look at her team leader, Summer was met by glistening eyes framed by flushed cheeks and eyebrows set to a scowling slant.

"Do I _look_ okay to you?! Dust, just leave me _alone!_ " Before Summer could raise a hand to stop her, Raven had sprung from her bed and darted out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

* * *

Raven regretted her outburst as soon as she had shut the door. They couldn't have known what had transpired on the roof – _who she had met_. She almost turned to open the door and walk back in again, her hand was already reaching for the doorknob. She paused. No. She had made her move already – no take-backs now. She turned on her heel and headed for the stairs to ground level. As she walked out the door, she could see the large statue of a huntress and huntsman dominating a beowolf in the centre of the courtyard. No sooner had she sat down at the base of the massive statue however, before she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Hey Raven, what're you doing up this late?" Raven looked up to see Yang casually strolling up to her.

"I could ask you the same, young lady." Yang knelt down in front of her time shifted mother.

"Hey, I'm older than you. Older students are allowed to be up later than you _freshmen_." She reached over and flicked Raven on the nose playfully.

"And you're a few years too late with the whole 'mothering' bit." Only now did Yang notice the reddish colour around Raven's glistening eyes.

"Dust, have you been _crying?_ " She rose to her feet as she looked down at Raven. Her eyes turned maroon as she punched her left palm with her prosthetic arm.

"Point me towards who did this to you and I'll gladly beat them bloody."

"It's okay Yang, nobody did this to me."

"… so you just randomly decided crying would be awesome right now?" Yang offered her scarf for Raven to dry her eyes with. Raven sobbed quietly as she dabbed at her eyes with the burnt-orange garb.

"No, she just told me some th-… dust-damn it!" Yang narrowed her eyes as she looked at the distraught girl in front of her.

"'She'? 'She' _who_ , exactly?"

"She… She didn't want anybody to know she had been here… made me swear not to tell anyone we talked." Yang grabbed Raven by the shoulders firmly.

"Dammit Raven, stop babbling! _Did you_ or _did you not_ encounter your present self?!"

"I did, okay? I'd gone to the roof to get away from the stupidity of Qrow and Tai, I look at the stars for a moment, and then she pops out out of nowhere and talks to me about… stuff." Raven looked away from the crimson gaze her future daughter is shooting her.

"What 'stuff'?" Yang's angry glare softens as she slides down beside Raven again.

"She _insisted_ I'd tell no-one, Yang…"

"Well, you kinda blew that already. So tell me."

"She told me that she really missed you and Tai, but had to complete her mission first before she can allow herself the happiness of a family."

"Did she say what this 'mission' was?"

"She's investigating Sum's disappearance." Yang got a nonplussed expression on her face.

"Well, that was predictable."

"It's what I'd have done."

"Obviously you did." Yang rose to her feet once more.

"Come on, show me where she was. Then it's straight to bed for you, 'young lady'…"

"Sure thing, 'upperclassman Xiao Long'…" Yang cracked up at her mother's comeback.

"Haha, good one. 'Upperclassman Xiao Long'… Actually, I kinda _like_ the sound of that…"

"… I've created a monster, haven't I?" Raven smiled weakly.

"Yup."

* * *

As the two girls wandered off across the plaza towards their dormitory, neither of them noticed the crimson-armoured woman following their every step from a nearby walkway.

"I should've known better than to trust myself not to blabber. Oh well, nothing I can do about _that_ now… Goodbye Yang…"

With a lazy swing of her katana, Raven Branwen disappeared into the shadows of the night once more.

* * *

 **AN: Yes, I am a cruel, cruel person for denying you Raven^** **2** **.**

 **At least I gave you Branwen-Xiao Long bonding though.**

 **Must be freaky being your mother's sempai.**

 **Raven, teenagers can't be predicted or controlled. You should know, you used to be one.**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	8. A Blast from the Past

**Woo, extra-long, extra-fighty chapter as apology for my tardiness! Also some semblance reveals, I guess.**

 **Soundtrack while writing this chapter was _The Clarion Call_ by Falconer.**

* * *

 _Summer Rose dodged a blow that sent out a shower of splinters in all directions, her blonde opponent rearing back to bring down yet another fist at the diminutive girl. If only she could get enough breathing room to activate her semblance again, she could slip away and regroup. But as she vaulted over her future step-daughter she had no time to prepare for the black ribbon that suddenly found itself wrapped around her arm, and with a firm tug from Blake, she found herself smacked into the wooden wall of the arena. The last thing she saw before the blunt end of a red and black sniper-scythe sent her tumbling into the darkness of unconsciousness was a twenty year old chain-axe blade-shaped gash in the wall in front of her face._

* * *

 _~20 minutes earlier..._

* * *

"Oh-ho-ho-ho, you did _not_ just say that!" Yang stared disbelievingly at her future father.

"Sure did, firecracker; we in STRQ can wipe the floor with team RWBY any day of the week. It's only logical, I'm quite _literally_ 'your daddy'."

"The expression 'who's your daddy?' doesn't work that way, Tai."

"Stuff it, Qrow. Paraphrasin' here." Ruby walked over to the young members of STRQ with an unamused look.

"But 'dad', you're only freshmen – we're in our junior year here. The difference in skill level is not favourable for you." Tai snorted.

"Bring it, shorty." Ruby looked up into the eyes of the younger boy, the right corner of her mouth twitching slightly in sync with her eyebrows. Then she snapped her head towards her team.

"Blake! Find an unoccupied combat class arena and book us for the hour! We're going to _settle_ this dispute." Blake tapped away at her scroll. Finding a suitable locale, she filed an appointment and turned to the rest of the two teams.

"We've got hall number 3102 in five minutes."

Team STRQ's chins dropped. _Dust_.

* * *

Some time later, the two teams were facing each other in the arena. Yang punched her fist into the palm of her left hand.

"Hope you don't mind me taking out some frustration on you guys, got a lot of things I wanna de-stress from…" Raven smirked coolly.

"You go right on ahead with that, Yang… Just know that 'mommy dearest' will respond in kind…"

"Heh. Bring it."

As the adult Taiyang shouted "Begin!" from the bleachers accompanied by JNPR, the two teams lunged forward as Yang ran towards her 'mother', she saw Summer disappear into thin air. Invisibility semblance? On a second glance as she simultaneously dodged a swipe from Raven, she saw that Summer hadn't actually disappeared. She was like a human chameleon, blending in with the surroundings and making her incredibly hard to spot. She dropkicked Raven in the gut and raced towards the hazy image of her stepmom as she advanced on Ruby, seemingly not yet noticed by the young leader who was having an intense scythe-duel with Qrow. But just as she jumped to tackle Summer away from Ruby, a dark portal formed in her path and she fell into a rolling dodge at Raven's feet.

"You're fighting _me_ now, focus." Yang allowed herself a quick glance at her sister, who had thankfully noticed the danger and was now fighting both Summer and Qrow. Suddenly two of Blake's shadow copies jumped Qrow and tore him away from his opponent. Suddenly two arms were locked around Yang's throat. Tai lifted his daughter from the floor as he bent backwards.

"Not so cocky now, are you? Told you you girls were no prob, two years older or not." As stars began to flicker at the corner of Yang's eyes, she saw Weiss swiftly engage Summer in defence of her partner, then quickly skidding over to kick the approaching Raven away from Yang, simultaneously putting an angled glyph in the air at hip-length in front of her choking teammate. Quickly understanding what Weiss had in mind, Yang swung up her boot soles on the glyph and kicked off, toppling Tai backwards hard into the floorboards with a loud thud.

"Now stay down. Your aura's almost in the red." Tai grinned as he swung around onto his stomach, then got up on his knees.

"No can do, firecracker. Remember that for you guys to win you'll have to take us all out, and I can't have that happen." He punched a fist to his shoulder pauldron, who unfolded into his custom-built armguard.

"Don't know if your old man ever showed you our weapon, so here you go." He walked slowly and menacingly towards Yang as he spoke.

"Likewise I can't tell if he ever told you about his semblance… So let me show you that too." He ran the last half metre to Yang and swung his gauntlet with all his strength into her stomach. As he activated his semblance, the stored energy from when Yang threw him to the ground exploded from his clenched fist.

* * *

"Yep. Tai's a goner." Nora looked quizzically up at Taiyang.

"Whatchu mean by that, Mr. T?"

"Basically, my semblance is similar to Yang in that we both absorb incoming force." He gestured towards Yang.

"While she uses the energy to gain strength…" he gestured again towards his younger self.

"… I absorb the energy and can later release it as explosive force. The gauntlet I devised as a sort of focusing tool." Taiyang glanced up towards the aura counters on the wall – RWBY's was barely halfway empty, while STRQ had lost Qrow and Raven, and Summer and Tai was teetering dangerously close to the red zone.

"Now I don't really know how hard Yang knocked 'me' on my ass back there, but that explosion should not only help Yang knock Tai into red, but might even deplete his aura completely." Taiyang reached over to grab some of Jaune's popcorn (receiving a cold glare from Pyrrha in the process), then continued to watch the game.

* * *

"Well that certainly is a useful trick." Yang stumbled backwards a few steps until she righted herself. Tai grinned.

"It comes in handy every now and then." Yang chuckled.

"Now why couldn't you keep that good humour into your elderly days? I'd need to chat with daddy later I think. But now I really should be focusing on you, yeah?" She strode up to him and looked him in the eyes.

"… Incidentally, that's how silly your tough guy act looked earlier. And since you were so kind to show me your semblance, maybe I should show you _mine_." Yang smashed her fists together, erupting into a massive conflagration for a split second. Tai didn't get a chance to put up any sort of defence as he was sent flying with an uppercut to the chin.

As his aura screen greyed out, Taiyang called out the defeated as acting judge.

Now only Summer remained against the entirety of team RWBY. Once again camouflaged, she swiftly avoided a veritable hailstorm of icicles from Weiss, her chameleon semblance not quite keeping pace with the fractal gleaming of the projectiles, leaving her a shimmering phantom. As she swung her chain-axes at Weiss to disrupt her offence, Blake threw the ribbon of Gambol Shroud, neatly redirecting the sharp blades away from their intended target. Suddenly Summer was assailed by shotgauntlet blasts from Yang.

"Sorry Sum, but it's about time we finished this match." Weiss shrouded the young girl in a thin layer of snow, betraying her form and making her camouflage temporarily ineffective. Yang and Ruby lunged at their final opponent...

* * *

"Told you we'd kick your collective behinds." Yang patted Tai on the back as he rubbed his aching chin.

"Yeah yeah, rub it in why don'tcha…"

* * *

 **AN: Tai underestimates his opponents. Chapter one told us as much. Maybe Taiyang'll beat it out of him before STRQ go home to their own time.**

 **Interesting semblances for Tai and Sum, yes? I didn't want her to have full invisibility, so I gave her "human chameleon" instead.**

 **If you're having trouble separating old and young Taiyang, "Tai" means time-traveller while Taiyang (full name) is Daddy.**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	9. Flock Together

**Yes, I know there's been a lot of combat in the last few chapters, but I still haven't come up with something better for them to do, so…**

* * *

Ruby had practically _jumped_ with joy when the young Qrow had asked her for some pointers in scythe-combat. Sure, she still wasn't quite used to only seeing one-eyed, but she figured that she'd be able to kill two birds with one stone if she trained with her young uncle – he'd get training from a veteran scythe-wielder and she'd get a clue on how to make the most of her now impaired field of view.

"You know Rubes, it's only fair you teach me really. One could see it as you paying the grownup me back for the training you got from him." Qrow swung Nox Nigredinis in a wide arc, hoping to hook his young teacher from the back. Ruby had however seen it coming a mile away. She quickly did a standing backflip, momentarily using her opponent's still swinging scythe-blade as a springboard in mid-air to gain extra height.

"Qrow, you're telegraphing your moves too much. That move might've worked on a beowolf-" She paused for a millisecond, momentarily frozen by a lingering memory of a massive paw aimed for her face, then shrugged it off just as quickly.

"- but it will be rather ineffective on any human with even a _little_ experience of combat." She let loose a flurry of swipes against her sparring partner who unsuccessfully tried to counter.

"If you can master being unpredictable, you'll almost always have an edge in combat." They both looked up at the aura metres in their booked combat hall. Ruby's demonstration had knocked Qrow down a good 20%. Qrow chuckled as he readied his weapon again.

"I'll keep that in mind, teach." He lunged.

* * *

Raven, Summer and Yang sat cooped up in the bleachers of an adjacent combat hall to the one Ruby and Qrow had booked. Down on the arena floor the two Taiyang's were pummelling away at each other, neither willing to yield to the other.

"… I suppose betting on the winner is out of the question, huh?" Raven glanced over at Yang.

"No daughter of mine should be steeping to that level."

"Ah-heh. _If only you knew_ …"

"… What was that now?"

"… Nothing. Oh hey look, Tai's back in the game!" Yang quickly pointed to the arena.

* * *

Tai jumped high over his future self's low right hook, swiftly dealing out a kick aimed for the chin. But before it could connect Taiyang had thrown up his hand, gripping firmly around his opponent's ankle and twisting the motion down towards the floor.

"What did I say about underestimating your opponent, kid?" He let Tai punch away at his stomach for a bit, then sent him flying with a swift kick to the guts.

"You dust-damned old punk! I'll get you good!" Tai charged the older man, his gauntleted hand primed for a punch. Milliseconds before he was about to throw it, Taiyang swiftly locked his hand around his younger self's throat and threw him to the floor in a powerful chokeslam. He locked eyes with his furious opponent.

"Try to avoid letting rage cloud your mind as well. You'll be that much easier to deal with if you just charge blindly in." He rose to his feet and walked out of the arena.

"Class dismissed."

* * *

"Good job, Qrow. You're really picking up all these complex manoeuvres." Qrow patted Ruby's shoulder.

"Eh, learned them once before anyways, right?"

"Heh, I guess that's true. You helped me a lot with my training too, so you deserve the praise."

"Anything I can help with." Suddenly a gunshot rang out in the once silent arena. Without thinking Ruby unsheathed Crescent Rose and swung the blade in front of her in a tight arcing motion. She felt something strike the blade, then heard a dull THUNK in the wooden walls behind her as the bullet shards impacted.

"Good to see losing an eye hasn't reduced your effectiveness in the slightest, kiddo." Ruby slowly turned towards the source of the voice.

Into the arena stepped the adult Qrow Branwen.

"Did you miss me?"

* * *

 **AN: "Nox Nigredinis" literally means "night blackness" (according to online translators anyways). Cheerful bunch, those Branwen siblings.**

 **Poor Rubes, PTSD isn't pleasant.**

 **It's entertaining to see Young!Raven stepping up and trying to be motherly to someone two years older than her.**

 **"…** **Nope."**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	10. Of Wolves and Huntresses

**Listening to Metallica's _Enter Sandman_ and _Of Wolf and Man_ on repeat as I'm writing this.**

 **And time for a PSA: I'm thinking about maybe aiming to end the story at 20 chapters to tie it in with the Arc Number in the early chapters. Sound off in the reviews below if you agree or disagree or want to suggest something.**

* * *

 _She kept on running through the forest. Her heart was racing, pounding at the front of her ribcage as if it wanted to break free from its confinement. Off in the far distance she could see the edge of the forest. Once she arrived there, she would be safe from her pursuers. She could hear them behind her, growling and howling, snapping branches and foliage as it was overrun. Above her the moon shone its silver light down on her. She dared glance back at her hunters, their eyes aglow in the night behind her. As she turned her attention forward again, she realised something was wrong. The faster she ran, the further away the edge of the forest seemed to be. Suddenly she felt something large impact her back. She fell to the ground, shielding her face with her arms, the young woman was beset by the pack. They bit her, they clawed at her, they howled at the moon as she cried in absolute agony…_

* * *

Ruby shot out of bed with a shriek.

"RUBY?! What's wrong?" Yang practically jumped over from her bed, and Weiss was not far behind from the bunk underneath Ruby's. The white-haired girl reassuringly put a hand on Ruby's.

"… Another nightmare?" Ruby nodded in between her rocking sobs. She could feel the cold sweat running down her back under her pyjamas. No doubt Yang felt it too as her warmth enveloped the younger sister in a hug, soon joined by Weiss.

"The forest one again?" more insistent nodding from Ruby.

Blake spoke up as she leaned on the edge of Ruby's bunk.

"You know, sometimes it helps me to get rid of my nightmares by analysing the themes and possible meanings in the events. Once you understand what the dream or rather, your subconscious, is trying to tell you, it should stop." Yang broke the hug off and sat down beside Ruby again, prepping up her chin in-between the palms of her hands.

"So… running away from Grimm is a no-brainer, that means she doesn't want to die. The vanishing treeline… " She rolled her eyes upwards in deep thought.

"… I got nothing on that." Blake smiled softly at Yang.

"Dreams are rarely that simple to decipher. I'd say rather than her running away from the beowolves is 'fear of death', it's quite likely she subconsciously is running away from a traumatic experience, of which beowolves are an integral part."

Blake momentarily let her gaze rest on Ruby's eyepatch. Weiss leaned in and gave Ruby a kiss on the cheek.

"I can have Atlas' finest psychiatrists here in a heartbeat, just say the word." Ruby finally calmed down enough to reply.

"Guys, I'm fine. Really."

"Waking up early in the morning screaming is hardly 'fine', sis… Let's all just calm down, go back to bed and try to deal with this in the morning."

"Wow, _Yang_ of all people being the sensible one."

"Ah, stuff it Weiss." Yang glared at the chuckling girl.

* * *

Summer was distraught beyond comprehension as she had heard about the mornings events from her eldest 'stepdaughter', and as soon as Ruby had entered the temporary housing of the time-displaced STRQ she had practically tackle-hugged the girl.

"It's all my fault! If I hadn't charged in like that we could've taken care of it together! Filthy mutt, daring to hurt you like that…" Ruby struggled free from the clingy girl in front of her.

"It's nobody's fault. We just got unlucky." She turned to the young Qrow.

"Have you guys met uncle Qrow properly yet?"

"Oh yes, a charming fellow. It's a miracle I… _he_ … manages to string more than four words together coherently, what with all that high blood alcohol and all. Truly a paragon to look forward to becoming."

"You've had a lot of practice though…" Raven said as she wrestled yet another juice box from the hands of her younger brother.

"Well at least there's no alcohol in these, right?" Raven walked up to Tai's bed and handed him the unopened box as she sat down beside him. Tai studied the side of the box.

"Well, with the amount of sugar in one of these I'm surprised you could still have any teeth left at the rate you chug them down."

"'Pick your poison', I guess…" Qrow shrugged.

* * *

 **AN: Platonic Ladybug and FreezerBurn, romantic WhiteRose and (implied beginnings of) Raven x Tai – does that suffice enough for you shippers out there?**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	11. Signs of Siblings

**Didn't say anything last chapter, but it feels pretty cool to be up in the double-digits.**

* * *

"Figured you'd be here."

The young Raven sat on the ground in a small, hidden away arbour on the Beacon grounds, her head propped up against her left arm resting on her knees, right hand lazily tracing circles in the soft grass.

"What do you want, _Mister Xiao Long?_ "

Taiyang winced at the verbal distancing as he gently strode up to his past love and sat down beside her.

"I've been an ass. I shouldn't have gone for Sum like I did the day before yesterday. It must've made you guys very uncomfortable." The memory of a man's toned arms hugging her team leader tight briefly flashed in Raven's mind causing her to blush, thankfully hidden from Taiyang's sight behind her mane of jet-black hair covering most of her form in her sitting position.

"… It's okay, Tai. It's not every day you get a second chance meeting your deceased love."

"… But it was you who was my first." Raven lifted her head from its resting spot and looked her future husband in the eyes, sighing.

"If it makes you feel better - I left you, remember? I ran from you and Yang." Taiyang looked to the skies, his eyes tracing a lone bird with midnight plumage as it circled overhead.

"It hurt, yes. In fact, it hurt _a lot_ …" He tentatively stretched out his right hand to give the young woman a reassuring pat on the back, but hesitated midway and just let it drop back to the ground again.

"…But I forgave you years ago. Watching Yang get better after she lost her arm… It made me realise that holding grudges? Not good for you in the long run. So I forgave you. I'm sure there was a fairly legitimate reason for you to leave."

"I went away to investigate Summer's disappearance." Taiyang looked at the girl, blinking in confusion.

"… But… Summer died after you left, not before? How else would she have given birth to Ruby?" Before Raven had a chance to retort, they were both spooked by a loud cawing. Looking at the nearby garden furniture, they saw the bird hopping around on the table, then hopped down into one of the garden chairs and shifted into a chuckling adult Qrow Branwen.

"Aww, did I interrupt the big reveal?" Taiyang shot him an annoyed glare.

"Yes, as a matter of fact you were. Get lost Qrow, I'm trying to talk to Raven in private here."

"I was hopin' t' do so m'self, actually… guess we'll have to do this the hard way…" He staggered up to his feet and held up his hands in front of his face, swaying a bit in the afternoon breeze.

* * *

"It's going to be _so exciting_ to have STRQ join us for the monthly RWBY-JNPR movie night! Ooh, I can't wait!" Ruby practically bounced down the dorm hallway towards their room.

"Please take it easy Ruby, or you'll spill." Weiss said as she walked up beside her younger girlfriend and slowly angled up the bowl the redhead was holding.

"… Oh. Sorry." Ruby smiled sheepishly as she looked around the floor with her good eye. No spills. She looked down into her white-haired partner's bowl.

"Hey… Isn't that…?" Weiss smiled as she obligingly held up the bowl for Ruby to take a snack.

Ruby wasted no time to carefully balance her large bowl of candy in one hand to put her free hand into Weiss's bowl and grab a handful of fried mealworms. Her face was one of pure bliss as she put the snacks in her mouth.

"Definitely tastes a lot better than it sounds…" Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby's antics.

"Movie night doesn't officially start for a few more hours, we should put all this in the kitchen cupboards in the meantime." Ruby stretched out her free hand to turn the doorknob, but when she tried to grip the handle her hand grasped at thin air.

"Dammit, this is getting really annoying." Weiss smiled reassuringly at her team leader as she put an elbow down on the doorknob.

"You'll get used to it eventually. Here, let me help you with that…" As they stepped into RWBY's dorm room, they were met by Yang and Blake and team JNPR, idly chatting with ¾ of the time-displaced STRQ.

"Hey guys, we're back with tonight's snacks!" Ruby cheered as she began to unload hers and Weiss' cargo on the table.

"We've got the traditional crisps…" she pushed the bowl with mealworms forward.

"… And for those select few who doesn't love them to bits-" she chuckled as she glanced at the person in question.

"… We got those Mistralian wine gums you tipped us off about, Pyrrha. With plenty to go around for all of us, mind you." Pyrrha turned towards Weiss.

"Once again, I'm sorry if I offended you by not liking your homemade snacks. If it makes you feel better, your recipe was better than the store-bought ones I sampled." Before Weiss had a chance to answer however, Qrow pushed his way up to the bowls on the table, eyeing them suspiciously.

"What are these anyways?" Weiss smiled her most pleasant smile.

"Go ahead and try some first. If I told you what it was in advance you'd be less inclined to. It has a rather… _unappetizing_ name." the young ST(R)Q members each carefully took one of the long, twig-like snacks and put them in their mouths.

"Pretty tasty!" came Summer's verdict.

"Agreed. Maybe a pinch more spices?" said Tai.

"Eh, I'll stick to competing with Pyrrha for those wine gums I think. I've tasted better crisps. Now what were those?" Weiss smiled and answered in her most neutral voice possible.

"Fried mealworms." Summer's eyes grew wide as she looked down at the snacks in the bowl.

"Yeah, I would _not_ have been as eager to try had I known that in advance."

* * *

"Qrow, what're you doing? You know you never could take me in a straight fight." Taiyang had risen to his feet and was staring his former teammate in the eyes, arms folded over his chest in a display of confidence.

"Whozzed anythin' 'bout fightin'? Now shush, I'm… I'm consentressing here…" Suddenly Qrow had turned away his gaze from Taiyang and was facing his time-displaced sister. He unfurled his fists and started signing to her.

"*So I heard from a certain young firecracker a certain someone bumped into a certain older someone on the dormitory roof some time ago. What is up?*" Raven stared at her older-younger brother as she started to sign back.

"*Well, older me seems to enjoy sending mixed messages when it comes to trusting her.*" Taiyang looked in disbelief between his company.

"You've got to be kidding me, not this crap again…" He sat down and watched the two signers, hoping to maybe pick something up, fruitless as it would be.

"*Yeah, she does that. Did she tell you we are still in contact, she and I?*" Raven's eyes grew wide as her signing hitched up in speed for a moment.

"*She does _what?!_ Does anybody else know?*" Taiyang perked up at as he noticed Raven's reaction.

"What? What's he saying, Raven?!" Qrow glared at his old friend.

"Stay out of it, Tai. This doesn't concern you." Taiyang begrudgingly sat back down, muttering threats under his breath. Qrow turned his attention back to his and Raven's hands.

"*Yang knows. Felt like I owed her that much after she lost her arm.*"

"*Sounds reasonable enough. Guess mom and dad taught you some decency after all.*"

"*Ouch sis, that hurt.*"

"*Serves you right, you drunk old man.*"

"*Did… did you just repurpose my name-sign as 'drunk'? Ha ha, _real_ clever.*" Raven just shrugged.

"*It runs in the family, I guess.*" Qrow straightened up and extended a hand towards Raven, helping her to her feet.

"Well guys, this was fun. What do you say we get back to the kids and see what they're up to?" Taiyang just opened and closed his mouth in shock.

"But… but… I never got to finish my conversation!" As Raven passed her older teammate, she gave him a playful nudge with her elbow.

"Some other time, dorkus. Now let's go."

And with that, they walked back towards the dorms.

* * *

 **AN: Holy crap, Old!Raven** ** _lied_** **to Young!Raven? Mysterious!**

 **Qrow you moment killer.**

 **Oh hey, the mealworms make a surprise cameo! (For those interested, Raven liked them too. Qrow was the only one to not be an instant fan.)**

 **You really thought I was going to leave the Taiyang-Raven-Qrow showdown as a cliffhanger until next chapter, huh? Well, the joke's on you!**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	12. The Passage of Time

**Apologies if this chapter is crummy, I wrote it post-haste.**

* * *

"Well hello there sis, fancy seeing you around still. Thought you'd be long gone by now."

"Stuff it, Qrow. Nobody wants your opinion."

"Why don't you drop in and say hello properly instead of watching from the rooftops like this?" Raven looked at her younger twin brother with indifference.

"What good does it make? Besides, there's already a Raven and a Qrow in that dorm room, no need to bring further disruptions."

"You mean that you're afraid of what Yang might say or, Oum forbid, do to you if she came face to face with you." Qrow smiled teasingly. Raven merely glowered at him before turning her attention back to the second-floor dorm room across the courtyard.

"What film is it they're watching anyways?"

"You tell me, sis – you're the one that's been spending the last 20 minutes spying on them like some creepy voyeur."

"Well, I don't exactly get the chance to watch a lot of media when I'm travelling around."

"It's _Curse of the Jade Dragon_. You'd love it. That child actor, or, well – former child actor you used to have a crush on stars in it." Qrow deftly sidestepped the kick his prone sister had aimed at his kneecaps.

"I had no such thing!"

* * *

"Wow, he got _old_." Qrow mused as he had squirmed in between Yang and Raven in the sofa for the RWBY-JNPR-STRQ movie night.

"Who?" Raven looked at her brother quizzically.

"You don't recognise him?"

"Recognise _who?_ " Raven answered annoyedly.

"The guy on the right in the background."

"… Should I?" Qrow chuckled.

"That, dear sister, is Redd Silverton."

"Who's Redd Silverton, Mister B?" asked Nora.

"Ah, it's just a former child actor Raven used to have this _massive_ cru-AUGHBH!" Qrow never got to finish as Raven threw a pillow full-force in his face.

"I had no such thing! I was a fan, that's all!" Yang reached over to pat Raven's left shoulder.

"It's okay to have a crush." She indicated the poster by her bed.

"See that guy on the right, with the sunglasses? I think he's cute." Blake lightly tapped at Yang's left foot as she sat propped up against the sofa. Yang merely leaned forward to put her hands on Blake's shoulders.

"Don't you worry Kitty-Cat, he could never replace _you_."

"He better not." Blake muttered mostly to herself.

* * *

Two hours later the credits were rolling on the screen.

"Did not see that coming – love interest turns out to be immortal and over two thousand year old? Not a common trope combo." Yang mused as the actress' name in question scrolled by.

"Really? I thought it sounded vaguely familiar… might just be me though." Ruby countered.

"It was sweet how she gave up her immortality to live with him, in my opinion." Blake offered as Weiss began to collect the bowls and glasses to put in the dishes.

"I know, right?!" Summer practically squeed.

"So what movie should we watch next month? Continue with this series, or pick a new film?" Jaune said as he stood up and stretched his body. Pyrrha eyeballed him quickly as she replied.

"I've heard that the next instalment is a bit bland, but I'm up for it if you guys are."

Nora jumped up excitedly.

"All in favour, say 'Aye!'"

"Aye!"

"That settles it then!"

A few moments later, there was no showing that RWBYJNPR's movie night had ever taken place.

* * *

 **AN: Some things change in 20 years, some does not.**

 **No idea where they pulled out that sofa from. Hammerspace?**

 **I'm not trying to reference any particular movies or actors, but you might recognise some influences.**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


	13. A Matter of Family

**Sheik, I'm writing this literally in the middle of the night and I've got work tomorrow morning. Plz halp. X_x**

* * *

"Dammit!"

Ruby swore as she recalled the target sheet from its position downrange. Her shot had floated off the bullseye by almost two whole centimetres. She mumbled vague threats and curses under her breath as she replaced the small piece of paper and cycled a new round in Crescent Rose's chamber. She was just about to squeeze the trigger as a now-familiar voice called out to her.

"Hey Ruby, have you seen Weiss? I want to talk to her for a bit." Ruby looked back ovr her shoulder at the visitor.

"Sorry 'mom', haven't seen her since this morning. Have you tried Professor Port's office? I vaguely remember something about her wanting to ask some questions about a recent assignment."

"Where's his office? Port is not a name I recognize from my days."

"Teacher's wing, room #503."

"Ah, Professor Chardonnay's office. Got it." She smiled at Ruby as she turned to leave.

"Good luck with your training! I'll see you later." Ruby waved goodbye to Summer and turned back to Crescent Rose. Aiming down the sights, she gently squeezed the trigger.

"Dammit!"

* * *

Some twenty minutes later, Summer was sitting with Raven across from Weiss and Blake in a café in downtown Vale.

"So girls… how serious are you really about dating our daughters?" Summer started, gently easing the two older girls towards the intended topic of conversation. Weiss pursed her mouth as she processed what she had just been asked.

"Of course it's serious! We may not have been the best of friends when we first met, but we've grown closer over time. I wouldn't trade Ruby away for anything!" Blake leaned forward, resting her chin on the back of her hands.

"It's much the same for me and Yang. She could be a little grating with her loudness, but over time she's been taking really good care of me. She didn't even judge me when I came clean about who – _what_ – I really was." She glanced upwards as she wiggled her ears under her black bow.

"… You're a Faunus?" Raven asked, mildly stunned.

"Part cat. Yang even said my ears were 'adorable' when she saw them for the first time."

"Why hide your heritage?" Raven asked as she leaned in with a suspicious look.

"I didn't want to be lumped in with the White Fang."

"Why not? They're the leading voice of the Faunus populace, aren't they?" Summer asked, her face a picture of pure bewilderment.

"Maybe you're secretly a terrorist who disagree with the peaceful ways of the White Fang!"

"Actually, Raven… things have changed a lot since your days. It's actually the opposite now. The White Fang of today are mostly racist Faunus supremacists hell-bent on the subjugation of mankind."

"… Oh. Sorry for assuming the worst."

"It's okay, you didn't know." Weiss fidgeted with her sleeves as she looked everywhere but at her tablemates.

"Well, _that_ turned awkward… What's next, gonna interrogate us for grandkids?"

Raven's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"… Never mind."

* * *

 **AN: Port is a red wine, Chardonnay is a white wine. I'm very punny.**

 **Yep yep, more confirmation of Bumblebee and WhiteRose.**

 **Summer and Raven be feeling the different timeframe right about now, yeah.**

 **Not pictured during the café rendezvous: one black bird pecking away at some breadcrumbs a few metres away from their table and one red-armoured, black haired woman overlooking the scene ominously from a nearby rooftop.**

 **I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.**


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